When life gets in the way
by proudly4you
Summary: A/U. Brittana & Faberry. Santana Lopez has never been one to stick to the rules. All through high school she continually broke the never ending list of boring, stupid rules. So why now, ten years on become a teacher? Santana finds herself back within the walls of McKinley High for the first time since Thanksgiving all those years ago.
1. Back in town

**Hey guys, new story. If you don't like it let me know, if you do please tell me! **  
**I'm still going with 'On My Way' and 'Proudly So', but I thought I'd start another one, because well...why not? I've kind of lost inspiration for Proudly So (with Heather Morris being pregnant and all) but I will continue writing soon. **  
**Follow-Favourite-Review.**

* * *

"Welcome back Ms. Lopez." Principal Figgins said as he ushered me into a seat opposite his in the office that looks and smells exactly the same as it did ten years ago.  
"Thank you Principal Figgins." I say, as I run my hand over my skirt before sitting down in the seat, in which I'd sat a hundred times before.  
"So, how have things worked out for you? I trust you completed college?"  
"Yes, that's kind of why I'm here actually. I have a teaching degree, and was looking for a job. I'm qualified to teach a range of subjects and I have experience in many of the extra-curricular activities you run here at McKinley, and I would love to be involved in any way possible." I say, hoping to win a position at the school.  
"Well; Santana you seem to have come at the best of times, our English teacher Mrs. Riles took a...tumble Down the stairs last week. We've had a substitute teacher in for the week, but the position is opening up permanently on Monday. Can you teach Year 8, 11 and 12 English?"  
"Um.." I stammer, I didn't think it would be this quick and easy. "Yes, I can. Thank you Figgins. Thank you so much!" I say, trying desperately to calm my nerves.  
"It's okay Ms. Lopez, welcome aboard the McKinley team. I will need to see your resume and run a police check, but I can't see any problems with you tagging around today if you'd like to have a look around and start to get to know the students."  
"I think I'd like that. I need to know, is Ms. Sylvester still here?"  
"Didn't you hear me? Mrs. Riles took a tumble down the stairs. Of course Sue is still here." He laughed.  
"Oh." I say. "Thanks again, I'll see you around."

"Coach Sue." I say as I knock on the door.  
"Boobs McGee? Is that you?" She asks, not moving from her desk.  
"It is coach. I'm back."  
"No way, what would make you want to come back here?!" She exclaims.  
"Well...I'm A teacher here now."  
"What? No way! You? A teacher! At McKinley?! Why on earth would you do that?"  
"I don't know. But, I thought you'd be happy to see your Champion Head Cheerleader again! How many national titles did me and my girls win for you?"  
"Three." She smiled. "How have you been?"  
"I've been good, I've-" I was cut off by a blonde bombshell running into the office.  
"Sue! It's Brittany! Come quick!" She said, clearly in a panic.  
"Q, you know I don't care that much." Sue replied.  
"No Coach, you have to come. Like right now. I think she's broken her ankle!"  
"My Brittany?!" Sue stood up and followed the already running blondie.  
I wasn't sure of what to do, I was left alone in Sue's office. The first thing that went through my mind was to search throught everything, see what kind of lies and secrets she's hiding ten years on, but then my mind rushed to the poor girl who's probably broken something and decide to run after them. I reach the blondie and Sue as they're about to go out of the main building and head towards the oval.  
When we reach the oval, there's a large group of Cheerios surrounding a crying girl. On closer inspection I note that the girl is also a blonde headed bombshell and is actually quite attractive. Before my head knows what it's doing, I'm pushing through the crowd of weeping Cheerios, as they pray they're girl is okay.  
"I know first aid." I say. "Give me a look at your ankle." I gesture for her to straighten her leg out, leaving her foot flat on the ground.  
"Is it going to get cut off?" She asks.  
"No, you'll be fine in a few hours. It's not broken, I can tell you that much." I say, looking at the foot. It's swollen and looks sore, but I think it's just sprained.  
"Are you sure? I don't want to go to hospital. Lord Tubbington told me that the nurses are all evil aliens sent from space."  
"Um, they're not and you won't need to. I'm going to help you up now, okay?" I look around and see that all the girls are still standing over us. "You all need to give-" I look down at the blonde, trying to remember her name.  
"Brittany." She offers.  
"Brittany here some space. I'm going to take her into the nurse and make sure she's okay. She'll be alright and be ready to compete for Regionals in no time."  
"How do you know we were going to Regionals?"  
"They're in a few weeks, yeah?"  
"Yeah." The brunette replied, unsure of me.  
"I used to be a Cheerio. Comp dates never really change. They're generally in a set week of the month."  
"Wait. Wait, what? You...You're Santana Lopez!" The brunette squealed. "Guys it's Santana Lopez!"  
"That's Ms. Lopez to you." I say, smiling.  
"You're a teacher here? Since when?" She says.  
"Since today, actually."  
"No way! I'm Rachel Berry and it is an absolute pleasure to meet you." She gapes.  
"Well, that's really sweet, but I need to get Brittany inside." I answer.  
"Okay. I'll see you around." She ran off with the other Cheerios in tow.

"Brittany, are you okay?" I ask.  
"Yeah, it's really sore." She says, wiping her eyes.  
"Alright, Sue can you please help me get her up?" Sue leans down so she's at the same height as Brittany and I.  
"Okay, are you ready? 1...2...3" I say and we lift Brittany from the ground on the three.  
She's suspended between Sue and I, hoping on one foot as we walk together back towards the main building.

"Thanks for looking after me, Ms Lopez." She said once we were inside the nurse's office and Sue had left us alone.  
"Please, call me San. I only said about being a teacher because I thought that Rachel kid would appreciate it. She seemed really...excited To see me."  
"Yeah, Sue has talked about you a lot. 'If Santana Lopez can do this, you can do this!' She likes to scream at us."  
"Are you serious right now?"  
"Yeah, you're a bit of a Cheerleading legend here at McKinley."  
"That's so cool." I apply the ice pack on to her ankle as she cringes.  
"Shouldn't there be a nurse here?" I ask, looking around the deserted the nurse's office.  
"Budget cuts or something like that. Now if you get hurt, you deal with it. They don't keep medicines or anything dangerous in here, just bandaids, ice packs, bandages and other stuff."  
"Isn't that illegal? They should have a nurse."  
"Yeah, probably." She says.  
"I'm actually a little starstruck right now. You're Santana Lopez."  
"Yeah, the one and only." I laughed.  
"You're really cool, even hotter in person that you are in all the photos."  
"Thank you. You should probably get back to class or something, yeah?"  
"Okay. Will I see you around?"  
"Yeah, I'll meet you back here at lunch...That's Still at 12:30 yeah?"  
"Yep. I'll see you at lunch." She winked, sliding off the chair and hopping out of the room.  
"Bye." I say, wishing we could spend more time together.

"Sue, tell me about the head cheerleader. The one you called 'Q'." I say, as we sit in the teacher's lounge.  
"Quinn? She's a good kid. A lot of talent, she's ruling over this school like you did. No one stands in Quinn Fabray's way. She reminds me of me when I was younger, although she'll never have my cheek bones."  
"She seems like a nice kid."  
"Yeah, she is."  
"What about Brittany and Rachel? Are the co-captains?"  
"Brittany is really nice, she's a bit of a ditz, but she's got a heap of potential. Rachel's fantastic, very switched on, she's going places that kid. She wants to be on Broadway, she's joining the school's Glee Club next week."  
"Don't you still hate the Glee Club? I remember when I was here you hated it and kicked a girl off for joining."  
"Yeah, I do hate it, still." She turned around to see Mr. Schue approaching the table.  
"Santana!" He said.  
"Mr. Schue! How are you?"  
"I'm good, how have you been? What brings you back to McKinley?"  
"Well, I'm...a teacher here now. As of next week I'm replacing Mrs. Riles, the English teacher."  
"Wow. Good for you Santana!" He continued walking off to the table where a Red haired lady awaited his arrival. When I was here Mr. Schue had only just started teaching here, I was only here for a year when he was here, my senior year.  
"Who's the red head?" I ask.  
"Emma Pillsbury," she replies instantly.  
"And she is...?"  
"Guidance counselor. She's crazy, she has OCD like you would not believe."  
"Obsessive compulsive?" I glance over to the table they're sitting at. "That makes sense actually... She's cleaning each individual grape before she eats it. That's a little weird." I say, coming to the conclusion that she may be crazy.  
"Yeah, she's really weird."  
"I dated a girl with OCD once." _Whoops!_  
"Excuse me?"  
"I'm sorry Coach. I should've told you sooner. I just didn't know how you'd take it. I knew in high school and hated myself for years. I'm so sorry."  
"Santana, calm down. It's okay. I don't mind, I just wish you had've confided in me earlier."  
"So you could kick me off the Cheerios? Ridicule me? No offence Sue but I can honestly say that you would've made that a mistake the second I opened my mouth."  
"No of course I wouldn't have. I'm a bad person, but I wouldn't target a minor over something like that. I'm not that cruel."  
"So you've never made a rude remark about a teen's sexuality?"  
"Of course I have San, I make jokes at gay's expense but it doesn't mean I'd make it personal."  
"Well, Sue I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark for so long."  
"It's okay Santana. Thank you for telling me now."  
A bell rings in the lounge and I glance up at the clock.  
"I've got to go Sue, see you later."  
"Bye, S."

"Brittany," I say as I enter the nurse's office.  
"San," She winks at me.  
"How's your ankle?" I ask.  
"It's sore, but I think it will be okay."  
Brittany and I talked for the whole lunch break, I found out all about Lord Tubbington and her parents, I found out she thinks she's Bi-Curious and currently single, I found out that she's in my year 11 English class and she's a singer and dancer.  
I was being very unprofessional but gathered that it was okay because I wasn't actually a staff member yet, and told her a bit about me. I told her that I'm lesbian, single, the classes I'm teaching, where I live, I told her about my time as a Cheerio and I told her about how someday I hope to be a famous singer.  
She's not as ditzy as I thought she would be. She's unique, that's for sure.  
When she was leaving, she looked really sad.  
"What's wrong Britt?" I ask, as she leaning on the doorway.  
"Well, now that my ankle's getting better I don't have a good excuse to talk to you anymore." She said.  
"Well, we have English next Monday..." I said, hoping she was looking forward to it like I was already.  
"Yay!" She said, leaving the doorway empty as I stared at it, hoping she would come back.


	2. Welcome

**Hi guys, thanks for the reviews, muchly appreciated. **  
**This is just a small chapter, a bit of background on Santana and her 'official' entry into the school's staff. **  
**Hope you enjoy, I'll post more later. I start school again tomorrow so it will probably be more spaced out on updates from here on out. **  
**Please feel free to PM or review and tell me what you like and don't like. I'm not a very experienced writer, so all ideas and help are welcomed. **  
**Review-Follow-Favourite. **

* * *

"You need to leave." I say, as I hold open the door to my apartment.  
"Why?" She asks.  
"Well because Mandy...We broke up. You put me through hell last year and now you've come back and you expect me to just forgive you? I really don't think so."  
"San. Sannie babe, we can make this work again. I still love you." She's pleading and there are tears welling in her eyes.  
"No, Mandy I can't do this...I shouldn't have to do this."  
"What, so that's it? We're over?"  
"We've been over since the start of the year, when you left me. Get out."  
Mandy left then, with tears coming out of her eyes. I wasn't going back to her after she left me without even telling me why. One day she just walked out and said goodbye, that day I swore I'd never go back to her.

I think I should call Mami, and let her know about the job...I just don't know if I want to or not. Mami and I had a fight a few years back, when I dropped out of College...She wasn't very supportive of me moving to New York. She was pleased to hear the New York didn't work out for me I think.  
I only lived in New York for just over a month, I failed to get into NYADA and gave up. I wish I hadn't...My Mami always had plans of me following the Cheerleading thing for the rest of my life, that was just a phase...A high school thing that I was happy to see the back off.  
The only reason I didn't get into NYADA was because I didn't have much experience. The lady that had been in control of enrolments and auditions said that Cheerleading simply wasn't enough experience to make it in the Show Biz world; and she was right, I killed my song but just didn't have what it takes.

I pick up the phone and dial Mami's number.  
"Hello?" She says down the line.  
"Mami, its Santana." I say.  
"Santana? ¿Qué tiene de malo?"  
"Nothing Mami. I just rang to tell you something..."  
"What? Tell me you're not pregnant." She sighed. "Or a stripper. If that's what it is, I don't want to hear it."  
"No Mami, I'm not either." I take a deep breath. "I finished my teaching degree and got a job at McKinley."  
"You finished college?"  
"Yes Mami, aren't you happy for me?"  
"Sí, pero ¿cómo?"  
"Hard work Mami." I say, I knew she didn't think I could do it. That's why I didn't tell her that I'd gone back to college at all. I kept it to myself. That was my little secret.  
"Your father will be pleased. Thank you for calling Sannie. Good luck with your job. Can we see you soon...it's been so long."  
"Yes Mami, I'll come and see Papi and you soon. Te quiero tanto. Adiós."  
"Adiós Santana." She says, ending the call.

I jump into bed, hoping that everything will go well tomorrow. I don't want to be that awkward new teacher.

"Good morning Ms. Lopez, I'd like to officially welcome you to the McKinley teaching team. I checked your background info over the weekend and I am delighted to have you here at William McKinley High School."  
"Thank you Figgins. I look forward to working with you."  
"Now Santana, I have here a contract that outlines what is required of you. The contract last for twelve months, in the future we can discuss making it longer, but for now twelve months is all I can offer you. Is that okay?"  
"Yes, that's perfect."  
"You will be on an average salary of $56,715 a year. Do you have any problems with that?"  
"No, I think that's pretty fair." I say.  
"I'll have our business manager sort out a pay check for you. Do you want fortnightly or monthly instalments?"  
"Um, fortnightly please."  
"I'll get Tim onto that straight away. Are there any questions you have that I can answer for you?"  
My mind flips back to Friday in the nurses' office. "Why don't you have a nurse here anymore? Isn't that illegal to not have a trained person to care for the children's injuries?"  
"Ah Ms Lopez. You are so switched on. I'm getting a new nurse. I promise." He reassures me.  
"Okay, well I guess that's all then."  
"Miss Gane will have a timetable and other essentials out in the foyer for you. Good luck Ms. Lopez." He said, as I got up out of the chair and entered the foyer.

"Ms. Lopez?" The lady questioned.  
"Yes, that's me." I answered.  
"I have a timetable, a set of labelled keys and a planning diary for you." She handed me a pile of stuff. "There are also little things like pens and makers for your use. There's a map, but I doubt you'll need that. You're in room 225."  
"Oh, the old Spanish room?"  
"That's the one. Spanish got moved to across from the choir room. Will Schuester took over Glee Club last week and made the change."  
"Oh cool. Well, thanks. I'll see you round." I say as I enter the crowded but familiar halls of McKinley High.


End file.
